Hot for TeacherChpt5
by Lexxi185
Summary: Away at the conference, Jane isn't sure what she is doing with Soren.


Soren knew where Miss Prescott would be and why and he had asked her for her advice on his essay. It wasn't her area and she had no requirement to assist him but as kind as she is, he thought she wouldn't be able to refuse. It was 3.45pm. They're alone in the study room. As usual she radiates yet wears no make up and probably only ran a hand through her thick dark head of should-length curls. She used to be slim but now… well, Soren found her curvaceous and sensual. Everybody thought she was younger than she was. Recently returned from teaching and chaplain-ing in Australia; Miss Jane Prescott had been back for 9months. He had met her when she was guest lecturing on Ministry Basics and called around her office when she was moving in to make her feel welcome. Despite reminding himself that she had clearly chosen a godly, celibate life, he had fantasised about her ever since.

There's a pause in their conversation. He looks into her vivid brown eyes and rehearses in his head: 'Jane. I'm attracted to you. I think you're gorgeous.'

'Not merely gorgeous... but sophisticated, kind, caring... Will you have dinner with me.' it's a question but his voice stays low not up. She looks surprised and uncomfortable.

Her back straightens, she shifts in her position and looks down. 'Soren, I don't think that's a good idea.' She meets his eyes briefly. 'Why not? Are you seeing someone?'

He knows she isn't seeing someone but he wants to know why. '

'You're 26, it won't work...' she looks down, avoiding his eyes.  
'You can't know until we try.' He presses her. She's conflicted. _I want to touch her white skin, on her neck. It's a dream just to be alone with her._ His heart flutters and his breath catches.

'You need more evidence on your method and further exploration of the history.' Her voice breaks open his daydream. 'Your argument is a bit sloppy here.' She circles the offending paragraph.  
'Some good thoughts, though.' She hands it back to him. Soren doesn't know what to say but needs to say something before she ends their time together and returns to marking the stack of first year papers beside her. Her laptop screen saver has come up with a picture of a vase of flowers which he can only assume is of her lounge room.

Luckily she had one more pointer to offer him. 'Have you got the marking criteria with you?'  
'Yes.' Where did I put it? Soren scrambles in his folder to locate it. _Okay, this is extremely transparent, be cool_.  
_Miss Prescott. Sounds like she has come right out of Austen's Emma or Oxford University itself.  
_Miss Prescott outlines what he needs to do to achieve a Distinction and then encourages him to go and work on it.  
Soren thanks her sincerely and then leaves, his heart racing.

'What happened?' Lara sets her drink down and listens attentively.

'He asked me to critique his essay.' Jane can't help smiling, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.  
'AND?' Lara prompts her.  
'So I did. We talked about his essay.' Jane relents, trying to get this over with. 'He's so much younger than me. He's a student. I'm faculty.' Her sharp brown eyes roamed over the bookshelf.

'Why do you like him?' she looks up, disliking this attention a little from Lara.  
'Jane, he isn't! It doesn't matter. He likes you. He's great.' She insists. 'He's smart, good-looking, employed. He's funny as well.' Lara wants Jane to give Soren a chance. It's been sometime since she's had any good offers for romance.  
'How do you know?' Jane quizzes her.  
'Ian's friend Mark Lyon knows him. AND I heard him speak French to Rick the other day!' they open their eyes wider in delight. 'So, tell me _what else did he say_?' Lara cross-examines her.  
'Oh! Just… we didn't… he asked if he could follow up with me…'

'And you said yes.' Lara's excitement at this prospect clearly the most interesting thing today.  
'Yes,' she admitted, finally sharing in Lara's girly grinning.

'Keep me posted.' Lara demands as she collects her laptop and folder into her bag to leave to teach the next lecture.

'I will. Can we keep this between us?' she asked as a throw-away line.  
'Of course. No one else knows.' Lara reassured her.

'Thanks.' Jane hasn't let on exactly how flattered and interested she is with Soren. In principle she shouldn't be alone with him, or go out with him. Her behaviour cannot be seen as questionable. She decides to email him a link to an article discussing his area of interest he could use for his essay. He writes back also immediately with several J smiley faces, asking about her day and thanking her for her help. Wow, he's pretty friendly, she thinks. The more she thought about him though, the further she came to the conclusion that she should shut him down before he asked her out. The whole thing made her nervous.

The next day, Jane is taking a break from the office, and eaten her lunch in a café on Abercrombie Road just down from campus. Soren enters and orders a coffee at the register. Jane observes him, cursing her luck. She sees him turn around and intakes her breath sharply. 'Miss Prescott_._' He smiles. His smile is easy, his tone is warm. This relaxes Jane and she smiles back. _Will he want to join me? Do I want him to join me? _He turns around and says something to the barista. His pale blue polo shirt contrasting with his slightly olive skin. _Did he change his order from take away to eat in?_ She hopes her smile is concealing her fear. He folds his sunglasses at the top of his shirt and puts his wallet away as his hand alights on the chair opposite her. 'Can I join you?' _Of course she won't refuse me_, he thinks.  
'Sure,' she manages, putting her knife and fork together.  
_I shouldn't have been thinking about her so much. Well, I couldn't help it. Am I reading too much into this? What can happen us? Will she laugh at me? _A stream of thoughts invaded Soren's mind but he didn't give them the chance to take hold and cripple him.  
'What are you marking?' he opens the dialogue. _Such a cool customer._  
'Ah, First Year Ministry Basics first assessment,' she breathes.  
'How are they?' he sets his arms in a loose fold over the table, looking into her eyes.  
'Some of them are good. I've failed 3 already though.' She bits her bottom lip as he grins back, flashing his straight white teeth.  
Not wanting to go over that preliminary ground of 'where did you grow up?' 'how's your family?' _What's that advice about leading with the first thing that pops into your head?_ Soren hoped Jane didn't know he was hesitating. _Perhaps it's been a long time since she's flirted?_ _No, she is so friendly with people she knows that it's so close to flirting,_ Soren counters… _meanwhile, oh, right_, 'Umm, do you come here a lot?' _Really Soren?!_  
'Yes, it's a bit further out of the way, the food is fresh… the coffee is good.' _See! Jane can do it. Smalltalk, it's supposed to be easy. _His self-consciousness was threatening to cripple him as he felt his heartrate increase._  
_'Are you getting a coffee?' he asked, making eye contact again.  
'Yes, it should be out soon,' she answered, fidgeting with her phone – _to check the time_ Soren thinks.  
'What do you think of Soy milk?' he raises his eyebrows. _What? He had to say something!  
_She answers without delay, warmly. 'I don't much like it. The taste is so different.' She glances up as a new customer enters the café. 'I think as long as you don't overdo the saturated fats… and light-milk is good, reduced fat ice-cream, light yoghurt… that sort of thing.' She raises her arm to scratch her forehead quickly. 'Sometimes it's hard to resist cream.'  
_Oh, your skin is like cream, _Sorenthinks to himself. _  
_'My Dad has been drinking soy for years. I think he's worried about bad fats and his father had a heart attack at 60.' He glanced at her navy blouse _if she speaks with her arms again I could catch another glimpse of her brastrap. She's so feminine.  
_A noisy bus went past with a roar, deafening the patrons. 'Is it noisy living in this neighbourhood?' he pried, hoping to get a bit more personal. She lived a street away from campus, in a faculty town house.  
'I'm used to it now… I don't hear it. It was a bit of an adjustment. But it made sense, moving close to college… it's convenient and the rent is good… as a single person. I have everything I need.' _Do you? _Soren wants to contradict her. _What do you get up to at home, in your spare time? _Soren almost asks her that and then considers that would be too forward.  
The waitress brings over both of their coffees and removes the finished plate.  
Jane reaches for a raw sugar sachet, empties it and stirs it in. He observed the freckles on her arm. _I wonder where else she has freckles?_  
'I saw you heading for the oval in sports gear the other day. Did you play touch with the resos?' she enquires, casually.  
'Yes, it was a lot of fun.' His brown eyes sparkle. 'Feels good to run around.'  
'You play tennis too, don't you?' _Who has she been speaking to? That's encouraging, _he realises._  
'_Yes, on Saturday afternoons, men's and mixed doubles. Do you play?'  
'I used to,' she offers. 'I don't really have the time to commit to a team, besides I've been travelling and going to conferences…' she peters off.  
She takes a sip of her coffee and Soren mirrors her. He studies the back wall for a moment before returning his focus to her.  
'What's happening at church at the moment?' _Oh, the church questions, again. Eeeeerrrrr. Okay, say something positive.  
_'Uh, heaps! I'm at St Matthew's, North London.' _That's right, I'm a nice guy from a classy neighbourhood. _'We have a new building proposal that's being approved. New staff member, umm, men's events, women events too. All of that needs organisers. Which reminds me I need to set up a facebook event…' He pretends to resist the urge to pull out his phone as she smiles in response.  
'Have you ever had a pancake night?' he stabs in the dark, hoping to engage her.  
'Uh, no. Not recently.' They sip their coffees. 'That's a good idea though. Will take a little organising. Thought won't be too expensive. Flour, eggs, sugar, lemon juice, ice-cream.'  
Jane asks him about study and discovers that Soren has been a part-time student for 3 years now, as he is semi-employed as a Financial Investor and works his own hours. He shares a house half an hour away.  
'Are you going to the Cardiff Ministry Fellowship Conference in 2 weeks?' He knew she was.  
'Yes, I'm going up with Lara & Ian.'  
'Sam & Anna and Mick and I are going to car pool as well. I think Anna is going to share with Sally.' Sally was a chaplain and colleague of Jane's and Anna was a senior student that Soren had shared a class with last year.  
'Oh, great.' She smiles at him, closing the paper she had open before he arrived.  
'I'm stopping you from getting your marking done.' He feigns apology.  
_Okay, what next?_ _Are you taking those back? Can I walk you home?_  
'No, it's fine.' She answers. 'But I am meeting someone in 15minutes,' she glances at her small silver watch on her wrist and then finishes her coffee.  
'Can I walk you there?'  
'Umm, okay.' She swallows and concentrates on pushing her chair back, standing and collecting her papers, pen and phone.

She is standing on the step before her gate facing him. _If only her arms weren't full of papers_.  
'Soren, I'll see you later, okay?' she tells him goodbye but she hasn't turned around yet.  
'I enjoyed having coffee with you.' He manages to get out, meeting her eyes. _Is this it?  
The moment of anticipation just before the first kiss._

'I love spending time with you,' he says quietly. _That's a pretty big admission._ _Perhaps you should wait for her to respond before you do anything else._

'Hey, Soren!' Dave runs over to them. 'Can you play trumpet for us in 3 weeks, Saturday night? Matt's away.'  
'Sure.' Soren pulls out his phone to enter the reminder. 'Thanks, buddy.' Dave strides off towards B block again.  
'You play the trumpet as well?' Jane is in awe.

'Only recreationally. On and off.'

'Okay, see you.' She tells him, more dismissive this time.

'See you.' He waits for a second watching her and then heads back up the street. He's disappointed he didn't have the opening for a kiss but also that he didn't have the courage.

The next morning, Soren walked in to the great hall just as the band reaches the final bars of their rehearsal before their opening chapel hymn. He greets his peer next to him and then casually scans the heads in the room for Jane. He catches a glimpse of her taking her seat in the right-hand aisle and happily begins to retreat into fantasy as the speaker's announcements fade out.  
In the chapel service, Jane is also aware that Soren was occupying her thoughts more and more, despite her best efforts. For 2 days she had been debating whether to request his Seminary admission file from the office. Doesn't he have a right to privacy as well? Curiosity finally got the better of her though and following chapel she went to the Administration office. The clerk handed her the thin file without a second glance and she scanned the file.  
Soren Nyborg  
d.o.b. 17 Feb 1986. Denmark.  
Family: an older sister, younger brother.  
Address: North London.  
Education: International Boys Secondary, early entry to Bachelor of Arts, with 3 majors: Linguistics, Fine Arts, and Music.  
Occupation: Financial Analyst/Advisor with Scott & Bailey (2006 -2010), self-employed Financial Analyst (current)

Interests: film, culture & art, jazz & blues music, sports, travel.  
Health Assessment: Excellent.  
Admission Test Score: 95%.

Personal Matters for Pastoral Care: None. No history of mental illness, anxiety or depression.  
Request for focus: Ministry Focus, Complementarianism.  
Reason for Part-time study instead of Full-time: I'm required to work some different hours and studying slowly suits me better than full-time.

He certainly looked good on paper, Jane considered as she returned the file.  
Jane logged onto Facebook, telling herself that she was only looking for incriminating evidence with which to use as ammunition against Soren. She scanned through his photos. There he was in his swimming shorts. His tanned wet torso glistening in the sun, his long powerful arms hung by his narrow waist, his jawline and cheek bones serving him well. More photos of him playing football on the sand in shorts and hat... his arm around a girl… at a pub… in a restaurant… hiking through national forest…  
Jane closed the window and tried to finish her lesson planning, still distracted by images of Soren.

After class, on his way to the train station, Soren passes Lara unloading boxes from her car outside her office and offers to help. 'Thanks, Soren. What a gentleman.' Lara smiles warmly and holds the door open for him. They walk back to car making smalltalk. 'Is Ian coming to the farewell dinner tomorrow night?' Soren enquires, taking off his zip jacket. Ian was her husband.  
'Yes. We're looking forward to it.' Lara pulls out the remaining 3 boxes and closes the boot. 'Have you asked Jane out?' Soren looks at her, apprehensively. 'Ask her.' Lara encourages.  
'Will she say yes?' he asks sheepishly.  
'She will,' Lara reassures him, gushing. He turns and takes in the last box in.

Soren is chatting after class with 2 friends by the road as Jane drives past in her car, both hands on the wheel clearly visible through the glass. She pauses as some pedestrians cross the road to the footpath. Soren sees her and waves; she waves back and then continues driving.

Soren waits for Jane outside of class. The students pour out. Jane packs up her materials, turns off the lights and pulls the door closed. She smiles but acts coolly, as if he is merely a student who's asking a question. She tries to ignore his tall athletic appeal as they walk together to her next class a few minutes across the campus. He asks her about the 4th Year teaching program and starts telling her about a book he's reading.  
Jane indicates block G and purses her lips. 'I'm teaching… they're waiting for me.' She tells him, somewhat apologetically. _Or is that dismissively?_ _Quick, ask her!  
_'Would you like to go for a drink?' _How very English rogue. Well, we're in England, so what.  
_'A drink?' alarm in her voice.

'It doesn't have to be a drink.' She glances behind him at the passers-by. 'A coffee. A milkshake. Gelato. Sorbet!' he stops himself before he goes any further in his desperation. He's relieved when she finally smiles.  
'I have to go. I'll think about it.' Is all that she offers him as she turns and takes a step.  
'Can I have your number?' he pleads. That stops her and she turns to him again –her eyes somewhere on his chest - as he takes out his phone.

'0 4 2 9… 7 3 3, 6 3 9.' Soren locks it in and grins down at her. _I've done it!_ He watches her leave, her skirt swishing as she walks. _Gosh, I love skirts. They're so much nicer than pants. More… mystery._ She buzzes her entry to the building and disappears from view.

Soren texts Jane that night. 'Are you free tomorrow sometime for a drink? How about Zeluto's at 7pm. I can meet you there?" Zeluto's was on Abercrombie Road as well - only 2 streets away.  
Jane texted him back within 5 minutes. "Meet me at mine at 6 and we'll go somewhere for dinner."  
_Wow, how authoritative. I looove that! _

Soren knocks. He's put on a clean brown stripped collared shirt and beige jeans. _What a cool cucumber._ She comes through the doorway and locks it behind her. 'Hi.' 'Hi,' he answers, kissing her cheek. She doesn't look startled at all. He turns and walks down the 3 steps and onto the road. She's wearing a short-sleeved white dress with a multi-coloured flowers pattern on it, with a belt at her waist, and jacket over her arm. 'You look great,' he tells her, eyeing her heels. She's closer to his 6-foot height. _Was she wearing this today on campus or did she change? _Soren didn't know because he had been finishing another essay and hadn't seen her today.  
'Shall we walk up to Abercrombie Road?' she suggests.

'Why not?' _Okay, man, keep talking._ 'Did you discuss the Open Week events at the faculty meeting this morning?' she looked up at him. 'I was just wondering,' he continued, 'because I'm on the organising committee.' 'Oh, right.' They turn the corner and Soren leads slightly.  
'I think it's in my diary. Who's the head of the committee, the student?'  
'Okay, good. Um, Jonathan Collins. He's in his final year.'  
They stop at the traffic lights. 'What do you feel like? Do you feel like Italienne?' he suggests in an Italienne accent. _Be easy-going. Take charge. Such contradictions. How do I do this?_

They agree to keep walking until something tempts them inside.  
Jane stops outside a small dimly-lit Vietnamese restaurant and points to the menu on the window. 'I've wanted to try this one.' Soren raises his eyebrows, smiles, and nods in answer and they enter and are shown to their seats near the kitchen, away from the window. There's only 1 other couple in the restaurant.  
They exchange pleasant conversation, they order, the conversation becomes more relaxed.  
'I listened to the recording of your evangelism talk from the Ministry International Conference 3 times. I laughed every time you made the Evolution joke.' Jane is flattered by his praise. She pulls up the sleeves of her jacket.  
'Why aren't you interested in girls your own age?'  
'Well,' that caught him off-guard. 'It's not that I'm not, it's more… I'm interested in you.' _Should I elaborate? _Jane doesn't respond so he adds some more information.  
'I have been dating a little… No one here…'  
He mets her eyes. 'Your age doesn't bother me.' She gives him a small kind smile back in an attentive way.  
Their dishes arrive… they're now making small jokes and telling stories naturally. Soren learns that Jane has a sister and 2 brothers, all of whom are married with children and sees her family quite regularly. She tries not to talk about church and uni but fails somewhat. Jane uses chopsticks quite well and compliments Soren on his use of them. They each have a glass of chardonnay with dinner. Soren can't remember if that was his idea or hers. It doesn't matter. It's going very well. _Don't foul it up now._ Jane pushes the leftovers towards Soren, touching him lightly on the arm. She dabs her mouth with her serviette. 'Very nice,' they agree the food was delicious.  
He wished she would touch him again so that he could feel the thrilling sensation again.

Soren insists on paying and Jane takes his arm as they walk back the way they came. This surprises Soren slightly as he didn't think she would initiate touching so early on their date and on the main road.  
_That's what this was. A date._ _Did they look like they were on a date?_ _They could be friends. From the outside._  
'I've been there. It has good pasta.' Soren tells her, pointing to the restaurant as they passed.  
She subtly leads him to turn off the main street onto a side street.

_Are you worried someone will see us? Do you really want to ask that? The answer will not be good._

'Are you worried someone will see us?' he studies her face as she glances up at him and then back to the footpath. She hesitates and runs her tongue over her bottom lip.

'I don't know.' Her eyes sparkle with the reflected light.

He waits to see if she will say more. His hands are cold despite the mild autumn night. He puts his free hand in his pocket.  
'Can we… be… discreet.' She asks but it's more of an explanation.  
'Of course.' _Be cool, don't be upset. She is a teacher, you're her student. Well, indirectly, but still… You've got this far. Be happy.  
_And he was happy. He was on a date with the hottest teacher in the Seminary, walking her home after a great meal and personal conversation.  
They were nearly back at her place. He was trembling with excitement as he watched her every movement.

'Soren.' Jane looks at him, her back to the steps up to her house. _She says my name.  
_'Can we go slowly? I need time.' She pulled out her keys from the pocket on the outside of her handbag without taking her gaze from him. With her heels on she was only a couple of inches shorter than him.  
He confidently thrusts his hands into his pockets and lets out the breath he was holding. _She must be nervous.  
_'Yes. No problem.' He steps in closer and their eyes meet. Soren leans in slowly and kisses her cheek. Lingering slightly. A hand touches his chest as he completes the kiss and raises his head slowly. 'I had a really good time,' he tells her.  
'So did I. Thank you.' Her hand quickly moves from his chest to glasp his hand and squeeze briefly before she's turning and goes up the 3 steps.

'I'll call you!' he raises his voice as she steps through the doorway again.  
Checking his watch, he sees that the date was a little over 2 hours.

Soren emails Jane. 'Are you going to the farewell dinner on Friday?'  
'Yes. But I can't go with you. I'm sorry.'

'Can I see you afterwards?' There's 10minutes before his phone lights up with a response.  
'Yes.' _One word answer._

With the dinner and speeches over, people are standing around with hot teas talking. The noise level is high in the room as people circulate and take the opportunity to catch up. Jane was seated with the faculty and faculty spouses front and centre while Soren was relegated to the student tables at the back. He still had a partly obscured view of her and had watched and waited for her all night. Jane had said 'be discreet' and that meant they couldn't be seen together in public.  
Finally, when the night was over, he turned and saw her leave, laughing at something Gary said to her on her way out. He said a quick goodbye to friends Harry and Jade and followed her.

She was heading for the staff room and he didn't have access to it so he would have to keep up if he wanted to open the door within the 10second shutoff.  
His heart pounding in his chest from the chase he walks through another door. Jane was in the otherwise deserted staff room with her back to him, one of the two main lights was off. She turned just as he entered the second door. 'Jane.'  
'Hi!' She answered, she didn't know he was following her. She was in another skirt and blouse with a smart business jacket, brown boots, her curly hair out, her warm-red lipstick lightly reapplied. With her back to the bench and the row of office boxes, Soren closed the distance between them and placed his hands inside her jacket, on her waist. She let out a nervous giggle as he swallowed and breathed in her light perfume. _Lavender,_ s_oap, honey… whatever it is, it's intoxicating.  
Well, this is exactly what you wanted. She hasn't voiced any objections yet. Kiss her._  
He lowered his head and she angled her face up to his, meeting him.  
Their lips touched gently.  
The kiss was slow and sensual.  
The traffic hums along outside but they don't hear it.  
Soren deepens the kiss. His passion coming out in waves, he moved his hands slowly over her waist and back. _She's so warm…  
_Jane is only responding with titling her head and just letting him kiss her.  
Her hand comes up to place it on his chest, in a separating gesture. 'Soren.' Her breathing has quickened, her eyes close again from the effects of the kiss. Her lips are still so close to his, but her tone had told him to stop. Her hand is resting lightly on his forearm. He adjusts slightly and settles for kissing her cheek. Again. And again.  
Jane considers breaking the contact.  
His fingers grip her waist tightly. They stand together. Not saying anything.  
Soren listens to her breathing.  
Possessively, Soren kisses her cheek again in the same spot, then moves lower to her jawline. Then, her neck. Moving slightly to kiss under her earlobe, he feels her smile again and gives a half-laugh.  
_Mmmmmmm. This is amazing. I don't want to let her go._

The door opens as a faculty member enters and Soren and Jane spring apart.  
'You shouldn't be in here.' The Vice-Principal walks to his office box and examines a paper without looking at them.

'Sorry, Sir. I was just going.' Soren looks at Jane before hurriedly exiting the staff room. The door shuts after him.

'Jane. Are you seeing that young man?'

Jane swallows involuntarily. 'No. Yes. We've had one date, Col.' Jane panics and doesn't know how to answer him. Her brain is not quite working properly. The kiss… She picks up her security pass and adjusts her blouse at the waist.

Vice-Principal Col Benson looks at her sternly.  
'You cannot fraternise with a student in the staff room. Or anywhere for that matter.'  
'I know it's a bad idea.' Her voice quivers. 'I never meant to…' she falters as Col glances at the entrance, frowning.  
Col shakes his head and returns his eyes to his office box mail. 'I'm quite sure it's against the rules.' He advises. 'I would think very carefully if I were you.'  
Leaving her with her own thoughts, he pulls the door open and adds 'Before breaking it off.'

_It was a long first chapter, but hopefully you're hooked on these 2 as much as I am. Please comment. If you do, I love you._


End file.
